Monday, October 30, 2006

I found this fairly interesting... and surprisingly accurate for something I found on the internet.

Advanced Global Personality Test Results
Extraversion |||||||||||||||||| 73%
Stability |||| 13%
Orderliness |||||||||||||||| 70%
Accommodation |||||||||||| 43%
Interdependence |||||||||||||||| 70%
Intellectual |||||||||||| 43%
Mystical |||||||||| 36%
Artistic || 10%
Religious |||||||||||||||||| 76%
Hedonism |||||||||||||| 56%
Materialism |||||||||||||||||||| 90%
Narcissism |||||||||||||||||||| 83%
Adventurousness |||| 16%
Work ethic |||||||||||||||||||| 83%
Self absorbed |||||||||||||||| 63%
Conflict seeking |||||||||||| 50%
Need to dominate |||||||||||||||||||| 83%
Romantic |||||| 23%
Avoidant |||||||||||||||| 63%
Anti-authority |||||||||||||||||||| 90%
Wealth |||||||||||||||| 70%
Dependency |||||||||| 36%
Change averse |||||||||||||| 56%
Cautiousness |||||||||||||||| 63%
Individuality |||||||||||| 50%
Sexuality |||||||||| 36%
Peter pan complex |||||| 30%
Physical security |||||||||||||||||||| 83%
Physical Fitness |||||||||||||||| 64%
Histrionic |||||||||||||| 56%
Paranoia |||||||||||||| 56%
Vanity |||||||||||||||||| 76%
Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||||||||| 90%
Female cliche |||||||||||||||| 63%
Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Ok, I'm sorry but I'm not going to update tonight either. I'm really tired and I'm heading back to camp tomorrow. Quite honestly, as I'm sure you've all noticed, I've been having a bit of a tough time keeping this thing updated. I think that I'll be taking a break from writing for a while. I'll be back in November.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Sorry for the really long time between posts. Posts of any substance anyway. Unfortunately this is going to be another very short post. I just wanted you all to know that I start my new job November 1st! I promise that I'll write a much more in depth post tomorrow about what I've been up to recently.

Good Night!

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Here's a thought... if you have an I.Q. of 2 you should seriously consider a career in Management. Ready to murder...

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Another insane day. To much going on to post but I am still alive.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006




A couple pictures from Kalamalka Provincial Park on Sunday. What a day!

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Dear Lord! This years wine festival didn't disappoint. Whooo Hoooooo what a night! The day of Mr. G and I went to Mission Hill Estate Winery because their tour and education on the Okanagan wine region and how to taste and critique wines is the best. After we were done at Mission Hill we ripped off to Penticton where S was waiting for us at the house.

We got ready and headed out for supper at The Pasta Factory which was fantastic and an excellent idea as having lots of food in our stomach was a great idea. We arrived at the Convention center and started in on the tasting. At various points in the evening more friends joined and by the time we were all said and done we had about 10 people with us. After they kicked everyone out of the convention center we went to Martini's on Martin and then onto the Blue Mule where we danced the night away. At one point Mr. G did a solo dance to 'Play that funky music white boy' on stage and the DJ turned the spotlights on and everything. The entire place was going crazy by the time he finished off his dance solo.

Tomorrow I believe we'll be spending the day in one of the Provincial parks until we're off to the 'A taste of Vernon event' and then for dinner at The Keg in Kelowna with Sister. Now it's time for bed.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Tomorrow I finally get to leave. It's that special time of year in the Okanagan known as the Wine Festival. So Mr. G and I are leaving camp for just short of 5, sure to be fun filled, days of Okanagan goodness. I think I've even managed to talk my Mother into making Thanksgiving Dinner this year.

Just because I feel like it I'm going to tell you a funny story from this morning. I was busy right away for my 0630 check in for our Newfoundland flight. This morning I had just short of 100 people to deal with and get organized. As usual the entire event went off without a hitch until I washed my hands of them and sent them off to the airport.

It would seem that once the plane had landed the duty of opening the door fell upon a new flight attendant. Apparently this was only the girls second flight. Apparently no one was watching her to make sure she was following the procedure correctly and she missed a step. That missed step resulted in the door of the plane being blown off and the emergency slide unravelling! Unfortunately something like this isn't quite as easy to fix as one might think and a mechanic had to be flown up from Edmonton with the correct parts and the flight was delayed by more than two hours. Thank God I'm out of here on the first flight tomorrow morning...

Monday, October 02, 2006

I feel like I'm sitting on the proverbial 'pins and needles'. Today is the day that the company I currently work for is supposed to be advised that they no longer have the contract to do what I do for them. That means as soon as that happens I can give my two weeks notice and QUIT! Whoo hooo! The timing couldn't be better frankly as the current company is bringing in a whole bunch of new Managers (again) and at the end of the week they're having all their big wigs come in. I'm trying not to get to excited because it could still take some time before everything with the new job is ironed out so I may have to suffer a bit longer but I'm still excited at the prospect. Now one of my only problems is that I've completely lost all motivation to do any of the extra 'special' duties that I'm doing for current company.

On a side note, Wifey I did get your e-mail I'm just holding off on sending my address because I'm not really sure where I'm going to be as I may be moving to another camp as part of this job situation. I'll let you know as soon as I know. Frankly though I think that you and Raph should be able to make a decision on the quilt. Just no denim please!

Friday, September 29, 2006

It's finally Friday! The fact that I work weekends when I'm here really doesn't make Friday all that special but that said the weekends are always slower AND I can sleep in on Saturday's because I don't have any flights going out Saturday morning.

Thanks to Raph and Wifey I've started watching Firefly a now defunct TV sereies on DVD. The basic setting of the show is Space Cowboy and I have to admit I find it very hard to deal with. That and the music makes me crazy, anyone who's seen 'Brokeback Mountain' and hated the music would hate this music to. Aside from those two peckidillo's I am rather enjoying the show as the stories are quite good.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Today, like the rest of this week, has been horrible. I feel like I'm in a three ring circus and the elephants keep shitting on me. Just when I think that everything is going to be ok from somewhere up above a pile of crap comes down on me. Seriously the only thing keeping me going here is the knowledge that in three weeks I won't be working for this company. In less than three weeks I'm going to be more than thrilled out of my mind to walk into my current Manager's office and say "I'm done, leaving, good-bye!" Then I will turn on my heel and walk out. Never to work in this circus again.

At some point down the road I'm sure bull's will grow wings and shit will begin to fly again but having everything I've gone through in the past while under my belt will really help. Until then I'm just going to put my head down and try to stay out of it's way.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

I wasn't back for five hours and I was called into the office by my Manager and basically told that I was to behave myself. FUCK YOU! That's all I have to say to him. It blows my mind that they can tell me to behave myself when they have absolutely no idea what I do in a day. By behaving myself I assume that I'm supposed to be a good little worker bee, do what I'm told quietly and unquestioningly (is that a word?). Unfortunately that's not me. I work really hard and I do a great job I'm just not quiet about it. I'm a social person and I happen to be pretty loud. If we were working in an office tower or something then yeah I would tone it down but as far as I'm concerned until Management works with us in the office and doesn't get their impressions just from walking through they can go to hell.

I'm also being ridden about the fact that I need to arrange coverage for my vacation in a few days. As I see it I'm not a Supervisor or a Manager so it's not part of my job. Proper Staffing is an issue that has been a major problem here and there's nothing I can do about it. If Management wants someone to cover for me when I'm gone then I would suggest that they arrange to have someone around to do it.

Monday, September 25, 2006

The end of turnaround is always somewhat bitter-sweet. As I'm sitting here in the Kelowna airport typing away, listening to my iPod and sipping an ice tea I'm reflecting on what was an awesome time out. It really seems that everytime I go out I have truly fantastic times that my co-workers are generally somewhat envious of but hey that's the point of it all isn't it?

So the concert! As with every concert in Vancouver the distinctive scent of "herbal refreshment" as Mariah put it was really heavy in the air. I told my Dad that if I fail a drug test because of this concert I'm really not going to be happy. Then again if Ross Rebagliati can get away with it then it really shouldn't be a problem for me.

Oh my God what an amazing experience! Sitting in GM place I was pleasantly surprised at how many people at the concert were my age or even younger. There was an air of excitement that was just palpable. Sitting there waiting for the opening act we were very curious to see who it would be. Imagine mine and just about everyone over the age of 35 when it turned out to be Busta Rhymes! Now as far as rappers go I suppose Busta is decent but I really wasn't all that impressed by his performance. He ripped out a few songs that I recognized that were pretty good but I was pretty sick about hearing how "Hot all da' Vancouver, Canada women are" by the time he was done.

When 'The Big Bang' finally vacated the stage the air was electric as everyone was getting pretty excited about Mariah. We waited, waited, waited some more, and then... we waited! The divine Ms. M didn't take to the stage for about an hour after the opening act. I was pretty irritated about the wait because I'd been waiting for the concert for months now! Once the stage curtains parted all was forgiven.

MC rocked that stadium from the opening note of the first song to the final song. There were only a few times during the event that people ever sat down other than that they were on their feet dancing. Mariah herself was far, FAR more gorgeous than I expected her to be. Pictures really don't do that women any favours. She is just stunning in real life. After the show one of the radio commentators said that obviously Mariah had, had some problems at the airport because she performed in her underwear the whole time! True her costumes were comepletely revealing but as one of the female radio hosts said "If I had that body I'd show it off to!" Drew from Z95 the Fox's morning show summed it up best though when he called into the radio station after the concert and screamed "MAN I'M COVERED IN PINK GLITTER AND I DON'T EVEN CARE" Yup, Mariah was worth the money!

I also spent a lot more money than I'd planned to this week. Bought three new sweaters and new boots. ok, pre-boarding the plane now so I've got to go.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

I spent an entirely enjoyable day with Janet today shopping in Kelowna. I’d called her this morning to the happy news that she was just going to call me as she needed to talk. So after a brief stop at the Naturopath’s office for some desensitization I made my way to Orchard Park. Starting off with a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks we cruised on down the mall cause I wanted to go to Aldo and buy some dress boots. Wouldn’t you know it I found the perfect pair in just a few moments, bought and paid for ‘em and we were on our way down the mall. Part of the reason she wanted me there was because she is going shopping with her new boyfriend tomorrow and needed someone with an eye for fashion trends to advise. So after I got my boots we hopped in the car and went to a few other stores. At the Mexx warehouse (I’m thrilled with the fact that Orchard Park is getting an actual Mexx fashion store in a few months) she pointed out a sweater that she liked and it turned out that I did too. I tried it on and bingo I spent more money. At that point I decided it was time to stop shopping as I’d been planning on spending very little money before I go to Vancouver. Guess that idea’s out the window. All in all a fantastic day and just the right amount of time spend with one of my best girls.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

I love flying, seriously I do. What I have figured out though is that charter is the way to go when your flying. Now I know most people have never had the pleasure of flying charter and I am stupidly lucky to be working in a place that flys us in and out so trust me on this, it's the way to go. Last night I hopped on one of the fabulous Canadian North 737's along with, count em, 13 other people and enjoyed an hour long flight down to Calgary. Now one of the wonderful things about flying on a charter that's almost completely empty is the fact that there's more leg room, you don't have a fat sweaty German tourist spilling over into your seat, you get whatever you want from the Flight Attendant, and nobody bugs you. Yep, if you ever get the chance to fly charter go.

Upon arriving in Calgary I was picked up at the airport by a cousin of my Mothers. I'm really the only one in my family that even knows these people because I spent time with them when they lived in Scotland many years ago. So over the years I've kept in touch and finally decided that it was time to go for a visit. He is a retired Executive with Exxon/Mobile oil and they're perhaps two of the most interesting people I've ever met because they've lived all over the world. Their gigantic million dollar plus home is filled with furniture they had custom made in Indonesia, tapestries and art from Europe, statuary and for lack of a better term knick knacks from Africa, rugs from the Middle East and stuff from Asia. Truely an inspiring place to visit. So after a fantastic meal the wine, chocolate and spirits were brought out and we spent the evening relaxing in and talking. At one point I thought to myself "These are my kind of people" so now that I'm freshly inspired I need to go about making sure that not only are they my kind of people but that I'm their kind of people. It's always good to have a fresh batch of inspiration.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

I am SO angry right now. I thought that going to the gym would help and after 20 mins on the elliptical I think my anger is stronger. Here’s what happened. I was in the office working on some stuff and the French Girl was at the counter talking to her bf. Not thinking anything of it I wadded up a bunch of paper that had just come out of the printer and threw it at her. The paper bounced off her head and fell to the floor. I laughed, yelled bulls-eye and went back to what I was doing. About five minutes after this she turns around yells something at me, bursts into tears and runs out of the office with a full line-up of people waiting. So now I’m thinking FUCK she’s done it again. I go up to the window and cover for her.

The background to this is that I throw balls of paper at the girls all the time. The usual outcome is something like “ha, you missed” or “nice shot”. So I thought nothing of throwing the paper at her tonight. Now last week all of us in the office had been teasing the French Girl about this stupid midget guy that’s been hanging around her at night. Well last we’d heard she didn’t like the guy. Well apparently between not liking him and us teasing her she’d fallen madly in love with him or something. So that time she burst into tears and ran out of the office too. The difference was that time she just went, calmed down, realized what an idiot she was and apologized.

Tonight she went to our Manager and “told” on me. So I get pulled into the office where I’m told that I have to be more sensitive towards her because I’d apparently humiliated her in front of someone she liked. We’re not from the same culture, etc, etc,. Also I needed to watch it because what I’d done could be considered harassment. Now the talk I could take because fine whatever obviously I wasn’t thinking when I did something I’ve done a million times before. It was the fact that she’d told on me! I obviously need to change my approach to how I handle the French Girl. I have a feeling that she’s not going to like the new way anymore that the old way but she won’t be able to complain that I’m humiliating her. From here on in she’s an office tool to be used to get work done. Nothing more.



(I’ll probably calm down and re-think that later)

STOP! Do NOTHING!

There really is an art to doing nothing.  However you may choose to do nothing I think that it’s very important to our psyche that we all take the time to do nothing every once in a while.  I am fortunate in that I have two excellent ‘do nothing coaches’ in Raph and Wifey.  They’ve been excellent in teaching me how to relax, calm down and not worry that I ‘should be doing something’.  Sometimes doing nothing is exactly what we need.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Only 8 more days until I get to Vancouver and get to watch and hear that Fantabulous Mimi! Yes kids it's true I'm going to see Mariah Carey live! I bought my tickets MONTHS ago and I'm getting pretty stoked to see this concert. I'll admit it's probably kind of weird that I'm as much of a fan of Mariah's as I am but hey, we've all got our guilty pleasures. Hell even if Mimi wasn't involved I'm super excited about getting out of here again! I'm really looking forward to just sitting around the house and doing very little. Sleeping, watching movies, visiting The Baron, hanging out outside and going for walks. Yup, those are the things you'll find me doing this turnaround. Hopefully by the time I get back I'll have some news on the results of my meeting last week.

I realized that I've been up here in the not so frozen (yet, anyway) North for six months now. It's already been half of the one year time line that I promised myself I would stay for. The months up here whip by like nothing and it's seriously amazing what has gone on here. Since I've arrived we've lost all of the Managers, gained a few new ones, I've gained another job title (with no pay raise I'll point out), I've paid off all of my debt, camp occupancy has sky-rocketed, the weather has warmed, the bugs came out, the weather got cold, we've added nine new return flights at the airport, and I've had a pretty good time. When my year is actually up I'm really not sure what I'm going to do. Will I take a massive pay cut and move somewhere different, will I stay up here and float along, will I move to Cuba, become a communist and reject my family? Likely not. Either way I'm optimistic that things are going to be good.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Night, that special time of day when all goes quiet and rest is available for the taking. It is night when we're supposed to give up all the shit that has gone on during our day. Forget about the insanity of the phones ringing, the people whining, the numbers crunching. Now is the only time that is supposed to be truly ours. If this is the time that we are supposed to use to refresh, re-juvenate, recycle as it may be... why can't I do that. My mind starts to race, I can not seem to block it out. I dwell on every minute detail of my day. It makes me crazy. It keeps me up. It makes tomorrow more difficult than it needs be.
I’m feeling down in a way that I haven’t felt in quite a while. I’m not sure if it’s just the inability to get to sleep while I’m here or what but it’s really taking a toll on me. I can’t wait to get out of here again!