Final Beer

pumpkin on a tractor

Well, my final day at VMI is now done, and soon I will be drinking beer. I worked a little today, I packed a little today. A few of us went for lunch, then in the afternoon we ate cake. I got a nice card from the folks at VMI, and some gift certificates to Future Shop, and to A&B Sound. I am looking forward to spending those.

I was a little sad today as I packed up. I have been working for that company for 6 years. I cut my teeth as a developer while working there. It was tough to leave.

The last thing I did today was logout of my machine.

The last thing I saw on the screen was “Are you sure you want to log out? Yes, No, Cancel”

Conditioner Banging

strange sign at the entrance to a marina

As if my last few days at this job aren’t hard enough, Fosters is on the roof installing a new air conditioner. This means a crane in the back lot, vehicles scattered around the parking lot, guys on the roof walking around, guys on the roof grinding, guys on the roof banging away, and guys knocking on the door to check circuit breakers so they don’t get electrocuted. All in all this is a very distracting environment right now.

Resignation Interviews

a cornerstone

Some news in case some of the readers here didn’t get my email.

This past Wednesday I handed in my letter of resignation to Voice Mobility because I have signed on with NewHeights Software. I am pretty excited to be working for them, and I think it is going to be a great opportunity for me.

I shouldn’t have to say it, but I am sad that I will be leaving Voice Mobility. It has been a great experience being here, but it is time to move on. My last day at the shack is April 28, and I start at NewHeights on May 10. It is bizarre to think that I will no longer be walking into the building at 3318 Oak St. I have been coming to this building 5 out of 7 days for the past 6 years!

This is a very big step for me, and something I am looking forwrd to. I know that I have made the right decision for me. I am at the point in my career where I want to move up in the ranks, and that is simply not possible at VMI.

In an earlier post I said “when it rains it pours”. At the time I was just starting to set up my interviews. Over a period of a few days I had set up 4 interviews. I was pretty stressed about how quickly my time was taken up, and how I would have to miss work time to go to the interviews. Fortunately I was able to schedule the interviews late in the afternoon so that I could go in to work extra early so I could leave early. I was also aided in the fact that the bulk of the interviews were during the week before the Easter weekend, and the office was pretty quiet. I have a couple hours of time to make up still, but I will manage that in the upcoming week.

Sometime in the future I might write about how the NewHeights interview went. That in itself is a pretty crazy story!

Anti-inflammatory Easter

picture off the back deck of the ferry

What a weekend! Absolutely gorgeous.

As I stated last time Sue and I headed to Nanaimo Thursday night and stayed the night at my mom’s place. I always like to stop there and catch up. Even if I have to leave early the next morning, it is great to sit and talk before going to bed.

Friday morning we got on the 10:10 ferry to Powell River. After arriving at the terminal, we parked, and went for a short walk on the beach. Beautiful area. A little strange though. On the beach we saw a half buried dead sea gull, and part of a deer leg (from the lower joint down). Not sure how that got to the beach, but there it was. The crossing to Powell River, is a little over an hour, and was pretty uneventful. Once in Powell River, it was time to work. We headed out to get a load of wood for Sue’s dad. I haven’t split wood in a very long time. It took me a couple swings of the axe to get used to it again. On the way back into town, we stopped at Dairy Queen. That strawberry sundae never tasted so good! Friday night we had a wonderful Easter Dinner, and basically just relaxed after that.

Saturday I went for a bike ride that Andy had set up for me. Rob and I met at a coffee shop, then headed out for a jaunt around Wess Lake. I had brought along my Bullit instead of the Chameleon since I am most comfortable on the Bullit. That was a bit of a mistake. The trails were pretty soft from all the forest debris. Rolling resistance was very high, so when roots popped up, it was more of an effort to get the tank over them. We completed the hard climbs, and when we were on the other side of the lake Rob wanted to take me on one little side trail. We climbed up a fair distance to get to a fun descent. There were a couple nice rock faces to go down, but the real fun one was the rock drop. A nice 4 foot tall jump to a nicely sloped downhill landing. The take off was downhill sloping as well, meaning I just needed to roll up to it, and pull up to launch. Easy right? I took a few roll ups, did a side jump that wasn’t as big, then decided to go for it. As I was approaching the take off I began to realize that this was going to be a bigger jump than I realized. The ground sloped enough to make the jump at least a 5 foot drop from where I took off. Wee! Like I said, lots of fun.

After I got back to Andy and Susan’s, Susan mentioned that Yoshi had hurt himself on his walk. Poor guy had pulled a muscle or something in his right front shoulder. He couldn’t go up or down stairs very well, limped a lot, and had a hard time getting up from a laying position. He got some anti-inflammatory drugs, and soon felt better. It scared me how much he was walking around on it, and no matter how much you try, you can’t reason with a dog. I tried to tell Yoshi that just because he is feeling better doesn’t mean he is actually better, but he just didn’t seem to get it. *sigh* poor dog. After getting cleaned up from my ride I headed to a local bike shop to check it out. Woah, they had some good deals on some parts: Roach Indy FR Leg Pads for $88! Locally they are $110. Too bad they didn’t fit or I would have bought a set. On my way back to the house I could see the Snowbirds practicing over the water close to Courtenay. Very cool!

Sunday was our trip home. After breakfast we took the dogs for a quick walk to the beach, then back to the house, quickly packed and made our way to the ferry terminal. During the ferry ride, near the end, Sue and I were sitting upstairs reading, and I began thinking the fire that was on a ferry a while ago. During that fire the car deck got so hot that the tires on some vehicles popped. I was thinking about the fact that if there was a fire I would want to go down to the truck to get Yoshi. Scary thoughts. A couple minutes later the fire alarm rang. When I looked out the window, the ship was turning sharply to the right. Yikes! Then I noticed a canoe floating out in the water. The crew needed to investigate why this canoe was so far out in the water. The captain came on and explained the whole situation. A couple crew members got into one of the zodiaks, and it was lowered into the water. The zipped off to the canoe to check it out. They suspected that it had just come loose from the shore and drifted out there. The ferry took off and headed to the dock while the zodiak towed the canoe back to shore. A little bit of excitement to an otherwise boring ferry trip.

Sunday night we went for another Easter dinner at some friends.

That was my weekend, how about yours?

Easter Ferry

dirt tracks at the park

Well, today is the Thursday before the Easter long weekend. Sue and I don’t have a lot of plans, but we are going away to her dad’s place in Powell River. I plan on taking my mountain bike, and hopefully ride some trails while there.

We want to catch the 10:10 ferry to Powell River, so tonight after work we are going to drive up to my mom’s place in Nanaimo so that we don’t have too long of a drive in the morning (we would rather sleep in a little on Friday). Ahh, it will be a grand weekend. It even looks like the weather will cooperate with our plans.

Sometime on Sunday we will make our way back to Victoria.

I hope everyone enjoys their long weekend!

dirt tracks at the park

Birthday Police

Fort Rodd Hill interior

I am soooo tired right now. With the time change, the early mornings to work, and other stressing events, I am just wrecked right now. Thankfully we get a long weekend very soon.

This is supposed to be more of a weekend report style post, so here it goes.

Friday night was pretty quiet, not much happened.

Saturday morning was my PhotoClub shoot, which was pretty fun. Saturday afternoon Sue and I went shopping. I spent my birthday money on some new clothes! Yay, spiffy new pants, shirts, and shoes. After shopping it was off to Krista’s for some dinner.

Sunday we were back to Krista’s for a birthday brunch/house warming brunch. Yummy! Good food, good friends, good times! Sue and I went for a short car ride out to Keating, then back home for some sleep.

Monday when I got home from work I found a letter from the Victoria Police Department waiting for me. They want me to attend Traffic Court for an accident I witnessed a while ago. Unfortunately they wanted me at 2pm today (thanks for the advance notice), but I have an appointment at 3:30 that I cannot miss. I called the contact number to say I couldn’t make it, but the number in the letter was wrong. I looked up the right number, but the contact on the letter wasn’t working, nor was he working on Tuesday. I really hope he got my message. Not much I can do about it though, and I feel bad.

That brings us all up to today.

Fun Sushi

grungy wall with a drain


the weekend is here
time to have lots of fun
I hope it won’t rain

photoclub is fun
we meet tomorrow morning
we will shoot a school

sunday brunch with friends
will be a very nice treat
I won’t overeat

sleep is a big must
if only the pets would too
they get up early

a dog walk with Sue
I have some shopping to do
beer and sushi too

the weekend is here
time to relax and let go
lets be full of cheer!

Same-day Bistro

birds in a tree

Yesterday was a good day. Simple and understated (much like me).

I went to work like normal. Got a call from my mom, so I talked to her for a few moments. She same-day couriered a gift to me!

At lunch I went to a bike shop to try on new leg armour for biking. Either I have odd body proportions, or bike manufacturers are stupid. I tried on Roach’s new pads. There are three straps that go around the back of the calf. On the size large ones, the top strap was too short to allow the pad to fit properly, but the bottomw two straps were fine. On the XL, the top strap fit perfectly, but the bottom two were too short? WTF? That doesn’t make any sense. Anyway I had to pass on those, but I picked up a new T instead.

When I got home from work I opened the prezzy from mom. Some yummy chocolate from Coombs Country Candy, and some birthday moolah!

Sue and I then went to Blighty’s Bistro for dinner. Mmmmm, always good there.

After dinner I got to open my present from Sue. A very nice shirt, and a shopping trip for a new tool box.

After all that I rang up Coreman and renewed this domain. 1 more year of muddylaces reporting coming at you!

Pretty good day in my books.