Forgot to mention that last night I went to the weekly campfire (a company tradition where everyone goes and gets drunk by a fire). I didn't drink but I certainly did laugh. Lots of very funny people working for this company. I took a friend from another company that I used to work for and she had a great time. As I walked her back to her truck she said "jeeze, I need to get hired with this group". I took that to mean she had a good time.

Why is it that people are always surprised when it rains on Labour Day? While it hasn't started to rain yet there are large black clouds in the sky and the forecast for tomorrow indicates it will in fact rain. Again I ask, why are people surprised? I've always figured that it's God's way of showing his displeasure over organized labour (I'm joking... honest...)!

Anyway today was a fairly interesting day. This morning when we came in we found an e-mail from our Business Manager stating that we (the Business group) were to have lunch with the Vice-President of the company! Now if you don't know what company I work for that probably doesn't sound like a big deal but this was. In the entire company which has 27 or so districts and spans North America there are only two people above this Vice-President. So the fact that we got to have pizza with him in the board room and talk for almost 3 and a half hours was pretty cool. He's often on our site so it was nice to actually have got to know him a little bit. Learning a little bit more about the job we're on, the next ones coming and the future of the company, as well as our place in it, was fairly impressive.

After our meeting I had a quick sit-down with my Manager and discussed the possibility of moving one of my girls on to something else. She's far to intelligent for the job I have her doing and her interest level has dropped significantly. It's become a problem to the point that she's getting sloppy. Manager is going to talk to her on Tuesday about permanently moving to another department and then we'll hire someone new for me. I hope everything works out as intended.

I'm getting ready to head home Tuesday night. As usual I'm not really looking forward to going home all that much and this time even that much less as I've scheduled having my wisdom teeth pulled on Wednesday morning. Then because I figured I won't be doing anything while home this time I've decided to come back up here 3 days early to cover a vacation one of my girls wanted to take. That way I keep telling myself I'll take some extra days in October.

I bought my tickets to wine festival the other night so that is something to look forward to in October. My friend M and I are planning a vacation in November to someplace warm. I'm looking forward to that a lot as I've never been any place tropical. Now we've just got to figure out where we're going. :)

Well as it was a usual Wednesday at JC it was steak night. This time to add a twist a bunch of us got our food to go, grabbed a few bottles of wine and set up in one of the common rooms. There we ate, drank and watched a movie. Great time had by all.

I don't know what's wrong with me but something is up. I'm feeling totally discouraged with life in general right now. It seems as though there's very little celebrate or enjoy lately. Work is brutal, we're extraordinarily busy and curves keep getting thrown at us. Almost all of the things making my life miserable are completely uncontrollable and so I keep hearing my father's voice telling me not to sweat it because there's nothing I can do about it anyway. Easier said than done when you're running a department that over 700 people depend on for travel and housing. If someone comes in and doesn't have a room it's a big problem.

I'm really wondering if the experience I'm gaining here is actually worth it? Where will I be able to go after I'm finished here? I need to hang in here for at least another 7 month's, which will bring me to a year's experience, but if things continue as they are now I'll lose my mind. Not to mention my physical and emotional health.

As usual the feeling that I'm missing out on whatever "life" is weights heavily on me as well. I know I've got it good here and I really shouldn't be bitching about things because I am getting good experience and making pretty reasonable money but where will it all leave me?

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Now playing: Darren Hayes - Unlovable (Accoustic)
via FoxyTunes

I got into Edmonton yesterday and I've been enjoying the relaxed hospitality of Raph and Wifey. Truly a great way to end a somewhat stressful turnaround before I head into the next rotation starting tomorrow.

While I was out this time I finally got around to purchasing a yoga mat and I'm planning on making use of it. Hopefully I'll be able to regain some flexibility that I haven't had for a really long time. I'm also frantically trying to think of ways to lose some weight as my jeans are all getting a little too tight. Maybe if I lay off on the cheese cake...

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Now playing: Joss Stone - Headturner
via FoxyTunes

Last night while I was at The Baron's watching a movie our family dog lunged at Sister's face. He was sitting on my Mother's lap and I guess she just got to close. She was rushed to the ER for stitches and we're going to have the dog put down this afternoon. I'm hoping that as these things seem to come in three's that this is the end of it.

I have to admit, I didn't intend for my absence on here to be this long. Life has a way of jumping up and beating the living hell out of me which leaves me so tired by the end of most days it's all I can do to sit and watch tv.

I'm back at home in the Okanagan right now and things are pretty much as they always will be. The dog's getting older, my parents are losening up more and more everyday and I'm getting fatter. Yes, life continues on it's merry trundle. There are two notable things about this turnaround though. Sister brought a boy home from camp and Harry Potter has been consuming the majority of my time.

First off Sister's new "friend" is nice but not someone I can see her staying with. Nothing against Iron Workers at all but the thought of him sitting in an arts performance just makes me roll my eyes. Secondly Harry Potter's new book is exceptional. I've been trying to read quickly and take my time with this one which is proving to be tough. I want to drag it out as long as possible so that it won't end but I want to know what's going to happen next so bad! Can honestly say this is the first time in probably a couple of years that I've spent as much time reading and enjoyed it as much as I have with this book.

I'm very much looking forward to going to Edmonton to spend the night with Raph and Wifey before I go back to camp. Other than that there's really not to much exciting going on at the moment. I'll be sure to write more often soon.

On July 20th our family lost a great man. Indeed I believe that anyone who ever met Uncle Frank knew that he was a great man. He was a man that meant a great deal to me for many different reasons throughout my life. My Maternal Grandfather passed away while I was very young and my Paternal Grandfather lived in Saskatchewan (which is essentially the same as being dead) Uncle Frank acted as my Grandfather.

He and Aunt Dorothy would drag their trailers across the mountains from Calgary to meet the family camping at various locations or would set-up shop in our driveway. These visits were always greatly anticipated by Sister and I as Uncle Frank and Aunt Dorothy always took lots of time out of their holidays to play with us, take us places and just love us.

The past 10 days have been difficult as I've never really lost anyone with as much impact on my life as Uncle. The night I found out I think I cried for 3 hours straight. The funeral in Three Hills was incredibly difficult. I only took two days off to go down for the funeral as I wisely figured that diving headlong back into work was the best way of dealing with everything.

There are a few things that I will always remember about Uncle Frank. The house on 19th Ave where everyone was always welcome. How he was always the epitome of a gentleman. How he always made people feel comfortable and how he never had a bad word to say about anyone.

Uncle, I will always miss you.

This past weekend was awesome. I just got back tonight from Vancouver where we were involved in all sorts of festivities for the marriage of Matthew and L. Altogether I have to say I think it was one of the best run weddings I've ever seen. Everything was organized, well planned out and a true testament to the Bride's organizational abilities. My part of the wedding saw me acting as the MC of the reception.

This weekend saw a lot of dancing. After the stag "festivities" on Friday afternoon we (Sister, Peter and my friend S) called up the amazing Ms. J and went out to 1181 on Davie then to The O. After dancing up a storm 'till 2:30 in the morning we made our way back to Pitt Meadows and collapsed. As usual a fantastic time had by all.

And now I'm exhausted so it's time to shut things down and go to bed.

Two extremely important people in my life are in the hospital tonight. One of them my Great Uncle Frank is in Calgary and we're really not sure if he's going leave the hospital. The other, is one of our dearest family friends Mrs. C. She's in the hospital in Vernon.

Thinking of both of these people I can only hope and aspire to be like them in some way. Uncle Frank is the composite Gentleman. Everyone loves him and he's one of those people who never has a bad word to say about anyone. Mrs. C is part of one of the most dynamic duo's I've ever seen. She and her husband went out and bought another computer a few months ago so that they could "stay with it". One of the wisest women in my life. As I sit here tonight thinking of them and the future without them I can't help but feel sad yet, spurred on to be more like these two incredible people. You've both been incredible influences in my life.

My thoughts are with you, even though I can't be.

I just downloaded 'Introducing Joss Stone' on iTunes. What a phenomenal album. I highly recommend it. Soulful and powerful it's excellent listening.

People who have never spent time in the environment in which I work everyday cannot understand the sheer stupidity of some of the people that I come into contact with everyday.

A few days ago I had to turn a new employee around at the airport when I got a last minute call that he'd failed his drug test. Understandably he was pretty upset about the whole situation and with the fact that we sent him back to Vancouver, when he was expecting to come to work and make some money.

Two days later he called me in a state of, what can only be described as desperation. For the life of him he couldn't figure out how marijuana had gotten into his system as "I've never smoked it in my life!" When I half jokingly suggested that he'd been Ross Rebagliatied he didn't understand so I explained about second hand smoke etc. Well he didn't think that was it either. He then went on to tell me that he wouldn't even know what the stuff looked like if his wife didn't put it in her spaghetti sauce... Seriously, this conversation actually did happen. I ended the conversation by telling our friend that if he passed the drug test he'd be good to go for a job with our company. I suggested that he stay away from his wife's spaghetti for the next few months as well.

Story number two isn't necessarily as funny... oh hell who am I kidding, it is! I'm sitting at my desk when the phone rings. It's a Manager from one of the camps that we have our Craft people staying in. Turns out that this Gentleman had gotten drunk or high (we're still not sure which) and decided that his neighbour snored to loudly. So he left his room and proceeded down the hall kicking doors in. Did I mention that he was "balls assed naked"? The Camp Manager told me that in all his years in camp he'd never seen a naked man demolish doors like that. Reading the witness reports were pretty funny. One of them simply stated "I was sleeping. My door blew apart and a naked man was standing in the door screaming at me. I went back to sleep." By the time the Police arrived and hauled jay bird off to jail I think the whole camp knew about what happened. The next morning when buddy called his Foreman he conveiniently left out the fact that he was naked and had spent the night in jail.

My third and final story involved some of our European workers. These "Gentlemen" had just got back from their time at home and decided to get very drunk. While they decided that it would be a good idea to see how far they could get with one of the cleaning ladies. She of course went screaming to her Manager who called me to tell me these guys were out. I sent the calvary who raced out to the camp, made the guys shower, sober and pack up as much as they could then threw them into a truck to get them to a plane. As they headed off down the road the driver tells me he hears the distinctive "ppsssssssshhhhhhhhh" sound of a can being opened... The boy's had decided their experience had been so stressful they needed a drink...

These are just three examples of a day in my life. Enjoy.

Last night I was talked into going to the bar in Fort Mac by Sister and Peter. The rational was that it was their leaving ESS party. Can't argue with that. So we went, we drank, we danced, we drank, we danced a lot more, I woke up this morning drunk. The waking up drunk was a new experience... as was feeling like utter shit this morning. Remember why I pretty much stopped drinking in camp months ago. Over all everyone that attended agreed that it was a phenomenal time. Now if my calves would just stop throbbing...

After reading the Strata minutes last night the unease I've had in my gut increased. After being tormented by the decision today I officially retracted my offer for the condo. It's kind of upsetting to me in one sense but on the other hand I'm actually feeling pretty at ease with the decision.

There were two main factors that were bugging me. The first was obviously the price of the mortgage I would have to get. As I saw it by getting the mortgage I was essentially denying myself the right to tell the company to go F themselves if I ever really just had it. I'd be tying myself to this job and the big money for a long time. The second factor was that the strata was very hardline against rentals in any form. Even if I had a room-mate in the place with me being away all the time for work the strata could start to cause problems by claiming that I was renting, due to my low occupancy rate. In the meeting it was documented twice that people had bought and were asking the strata to rent, for good reasons, and the strata turned them down flat. In each of these cases the units sat empty for very long times and I don't really want to be paying for an extremely expensive "hotel".

Overall I made a logical decision and I suppose I'm pleased with that but my emotions aren't exactly feeling that right now.

I'm feeling low.

Honestly I didn't think that I'd be writing about mortgage woes before I even had one... Turns out that a certain Orange bank thinks I'm not necessarily a good credit risk. How are they basing this decision? Well because I'm new to my job they don't want to take the risk that I'm not excellent at it. So I had to get my Dad to guarantee it... at least until I've been with the company for 6 months.

So after we got that fixed up I anxiously awaited a call today telling me if they have been magnanimous enough to grant me the priviledge of paying them a great deal of money for many, many years. The call came and... the bastard at the other end told me that I have "significant debt"! Well let me tell you, that was a fucking shock to me.

The Money Monkey then asked me if I could pay any of it down. I asked him what the hell he was talking about. Turns out that my AMEX bill last month was $230 and my Visa was around $300. He didn't tell me that these numbers were from last month so I had a hell of a time figuring out what the hell he was talking about, as I pay my credit cards off every month. That and my line of credit balance of around $900 and the balance left to pay off my car (which is below $5,000) were enough for them to have to think seriously about my eligibility.

The fact that I have a $20,000 down payment and a flawless credit record seem to mean nothing. So as it stands now I'm going to see what happens on Monday before I go the alternate routes I was considering with either the bank or the credit union who have both been actively pursuing my business. I can tell you one thing the Orange bank should change it's advertising because they're not friendly or remotely helpful. I plan on doing my damnedest to let everyone I know about this experience. Likely won't make a big difference in the long run but it'll make me happy knowing that I may have cost them at least one customer.


PS - I'm closing my accounts with them on Tuesday regardless.

THEY ACCEPTED MY OFFER! KELOWNA HERE I COME!

Well I put an offer in on the apartment that I was looking at. After looking at 5 others, just for the sake of making sure there was nothing else out there I wanted, I put an offer in on the original one that I liked. The other's had a number of things wrong with them. In one you could hear the traffic through the walls, in a couple of others the floors were totally destroyed (new carpets and lino needed), in the other's I hated the location. So I put an offer in on the first one I looked at, to be honest it's the one I wanted in the first place, and they came back at $10,000 more than I offered.

This is actually a good thing because I offered them $20,000 less than their asking price. So I am planning on offering them another $5,000 tomorrow knowing full well that they're going to likely stick to their price. Then I'm going to tell them that I'll happily take their price but I want their living room furniture (including the flat screen TV). So we'll see. I'm excited. Stay tuned for updates...

After spending much of the day with Janet yesterday I decided that today I would look into this whole house buying business that seems to be the rage with the kids. So I went onto MLS and started to look around. Well wouldn't you know it but the condo I've been dreaming about was there.

The place is in the building in downtown Kelowna that I lived in once-upon-a-time and that I loved. The suite is bigger than the one I was in and is a corner suite so it's got tons of windows and natural light. The current owners were clever enough to put laminate and tile in throughout. The kitchen is huge, the ensuite is huge, the walk in closet is not so huge... but you can still walk into it. The coulours on the walls were perfect. The only thing not perfect about it would be the $1,400+ a month mortgage payment. Even though I can easily afford that now... it's the commitment that scares the living bejeezus out of me.

This is tough though. Frankly I don't think that it's going to get cheaper to buy a house anytime soon.

I can't believe how long it's been since I wrote. Work has been so psychotically busy it's just sick. Things are going good but I'm really looking forward to going home again. This time in I've been dealing with some sporadic sever depression that I think is a result of being exhausted a lot. Just to be sure though I've got an appointment with my naturalpath while I'm home.

Right now I'm procrastinating on packing. Can't figure out why because I really want to go home... but I pack so much I'm tired of it.